PARAPRO Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield PARAPRO facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. An author describes a thunderstorm as 'furious' and 'angry,' giving the storm human emotions. This technique suggests the author's purpose is to — → create a vivid, emotional impression for readers
2. A student is struggling to understand place value. Which manipulative would BEST help reinforce this concept? → Base-ten blocks representing ones, tens, and hundreds
3. A student is skip-counting by 5s: 5, 10, 15, 20... A paraprofessional uses this activity to connect it to what future math skill? → Multiplication (specifically the 5 times table)
4. A student earns scores of 72, 85, 91, 68, and 84 on five quizzes. What is the mean (average) score? → 80
5. Solve for x: 3(x - 4) = 21 → x = 11
6. Identify the correctly spelled word in the following group: → necessary
7. A parallelogram has a base of 12 inches and a height of 5 inches. What is its area? → 60 square inches
8. A paraprofessional overhears a colleague make a discriminatory comment about a student. What is the most appropriate action? → Report the incident to a supervisor following school policy
9. Which of the following is an example of a paraprofessional acting WITHIN her appropriate professional role? → Implementing a small-group reading lesson as directed by the classroom teacher
10. Which sentence uses a semicolon CORRECTLY? → She studied hard; therefore, she passed the exam.
11. What is the value of the digit 6 in the number 76,432? → 6,000
12. If a = 3 and b = 4, what is the value of 2a² − b? → 14
13. A paraprofessional needs to convert 2 yards into feet for a craft project. How many feet is 2 yards? → 6 feet
14. Two lines that never intersect and are always the same distance apart are called: → Parallel lines
15. A reader encounters the word 'benevolent' and uses context: 'The benevolent donor gave millions to local charities.' What does 'benevolent' most likely mean? → Generous and kind
16. A paraeducator is asked to lead a small group reading activity. The best approach is to: → Follow the teacher's lesson plan and instructional strategies
17. If 5n + 7 = 32, what is the value of n? → 5
18. A paraprofessional wants to help a student retell a story in sequence. Which tool is MOST helpful? → A story map with beginning, middle, and end sections
19. Shane spends $1.10 on nine pens. Which of the following sums up the change she would get if she used a $20 bill to buy the pens? → $20−(9)($1.10)
20. Which of the following is an example of an editing task (as opposed to a revision task)? → Correcting subject-verb agreement errors
21. Multiplication's outcome → Product
22. A pictograph shows each symbol equals 10 students. The row for Monday shows 3.5 symbols. How many students does Monday represent? → 35 students
23. A student reads: 'Although Maria studied every night, she still struggled on exams.' What does 'although' signal? → A contrast between two ideas
24. A paraeducator is asked by a coworker to share confidential student information. What is the correct response? → Decline and explain that student information is confidential under FERPA
25. On the ParaPro math section, a student must evaluate: 5 + 3 × 2. Using order of operations, the answer is: → 11
26. Which revision best eliminates the dangling modifier in: 'Walking to school, the rain began to fall.'? → As I was walking to school, the rain began to fall.
27. If x − 9 = 15, what is the value of x? → 24
28. Which of the following numbers is a prime number? → 37
29. Which of the following is a property of a right triangle? → One angle measures exactly 90°
30. A paraprofessional notices a student erasing and rewriting the same sentence repeatedly during drafting. What should the paraprofessional say? → 'Don't worry about making it perfect right now — just get your ideas down.'